Little River School Mural Project 

Located in the Little River Domain on the Tennis Court volley wall

“ Matai class was  offered the unique opportunity to meet Frankie, learn about her previous art projects ranging from Christchurch to Japan, and discover what it’s like to be a professional artist. The children were then asked to help her brainstorm ideas for the tennis court mural, using their knowledge of the Little River environment. The children were very excited and spent several hours in total working with Frankie who encouraged them to free their creativity, let go of the need to be ‘perfect’, and have confidence in themselves as artists. I was amazed to see the beautiful, crazy and clever concepts they came up with! Frankie then went away and somehow blended and combined their images into a stunning mural! Once again she asked for their help, this time to colour the finished design. As you can imagine, the students all had very different ideas about colour, patterns and shading. Frankie embraced all of their ideas and made each one feel valued. When she finally unveiled the finished, full colour designs (for the front and back) the children gasped and cheered! Every single one of them could point out a creature, plant or colour scheme in the mural that they felt ownership for. In all my years of teaching, I’ve never been able to offer my students art lessons like this. “

-Tara Sutherland, Matai teacher-

Quotes from the tamariki reflecting back on the project

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It was good that we got to work together! (Callum)

It was great that we got to choose what to do for the mural (Ezra) 

We got to pick the colours for the mural (Paige) 

It's cool that we know that it's our own work on the wall and it will stay there for a long time (Ella & Callum) 

Frankie always found a good bit in our art (Isabella) 

She made me feel special and good at art in my own way (Nova) 

She made me feel confident when she complimented my work (Ezra) 

She made me believe in myself (Lexi)